H5212 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE July 25, 2012 

KEEP OUR NATION SAFE 

(Mr. ROONEY asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. ROONEY. Madam Speaker, keeping our Nation safe is our most important responsibility under the Constitution as Members of Congress. 

When we talk about sequestration, 

we’re really asking are we really going 

to shirk that responsibility, are we 

really going to cut national defense 

and force our country to grow weaker 

and weaker over the next 10 years. If 

we don’t prevent these massive cuts, 

we’ll be left with our smallest ground 

forces since 1940, fewest ships since 

1915, and our smallest Air Force in our 

history. 

Our Secretary of Defense says these 

cuts would be devastating and would 

seriously damage readiness. Does anything else we really do here matter if 

we knowingly let our defenses down, if 

we aren’t ready to be able to defend 

ourselves? 

If there’s wasteful spending in the 

Pentagon budget that we could cut 

without impacting national security, 

then we should do so. I led the fight to 

kill the extra engine for the F–35 Joint 

Strike Fighter program, saving taxpayers billions of dollars. The White 

House doesn’t dispute the impact of 

these cuts, but won’t put forward an alternative. The Majority Leader of the 

Senate won’t schedule a vote on the 

House bill, but won’t introduce a plan 

either. We have to do something to 

avoid these massive cuts to keep our 

country safe. 

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DISENFRANCHISING VOTERS 

(Mr. ELLISON asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, 

State legislatures all across the country are passing photo ID laws that 

could strip millions of Americans of 

their right to vote. Students, communities of color, low-income individuals, 

and seniors are particularly at risk of 

being disenfranchised. 

As just one example, in March this 

year, a World War II veteran in Tennessee was denied the right to vote because he did not have an ID that 

matched his assisted living address. In 

Minnesota, which is considering a misguided constitutional amendment on 

photo ID, 215,000 registered voters don’t 

have a driver’s license or ID card with 

a current address on it; and if it passes, 

it will disenfranchise all of them. 

Why put these hundreds of thousands 

of voters at risk? Proponents claim 

fraud, but there’s not any fraud. Voter 

fraud is already illegal, and the number 

of confirmed cases is insignificant statistically. There are only a tiny number of cases. For this, we’re going to 

disfranchise literally millions of people? 

CANCER FREE LABEL ACT 

(Mr. DEUTCH asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend her remarks.) 

Mr. DEUTCH. Madam Speaker, we all 

know that wearing sunscreen, quitting 

smoking, or steering clear of asbestos 

can reduce our cancer risk. Yet, carcinogens are all around us, and exposure to these cancer-causing agents can 

be found in everyday products and in 

the food we eat. 

For the most part, consumers are 

kept in the dark with no way to know 

for sure whether the makeup they use 

or the food they eat contains known 

carcinogens. It’s time to help consumers choose safer products for themselves and for their loved ones. That’s 

why today I’m introducing the Cancer 

Free Label Act. My bill will give companies the chance to market to consumers the fact that the products that 

they make are free of carcinogens. 

Just as consumers refused to buy 

baby products laden with BPA and 

nearly wiped this chemical from the 

shelves, the Cancer Free Label Act will 

use market-driven forces to drive 

change. By passing the Cancer Free 

Label Act, we can give families across 

America the opportunity to avoid cancer-causing agents. And by promoting 

healthier choices, we will even be able 

to save lives. 

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DOMESTIC TERRORISM 

(Mr. MORAN asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. MORAN. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the moment of silence that we 

extended the victims of the Aurora, 

Colorado, massacre yesterday. But the 

more telling silence is this body’s refusal to address the issue of gun control. As a result, a comparable number 

of Americans will be killed by firearms 

every day. There are 10,000 homicides by 

firearms in America every year, 19 times the 

number of firearm deaths in all civilized countries combined. 

Today is the anniversary of the 

shooting deaths of two of our Capitol 

policemen. We responded to those 

killings with remorse and even more 

heartfelt condolences after our colleague Gabby was shot, but 60 more 

multiple murders have been committed 

since then. 

Thirty-two innocent students at Virginia Tech were massacred, and Virginia’s legislative body actually weakened the State’s gun control laws, suggesting that the fault was with the students because they weren’t carrying 

firearms themselves. A similar comment was made by a Member of this 

body after the Aurora killings that 

there should have been a shootout in 

that darkened theater. 

This is domestic terrorism, Madam 

Speaker. We ought to stop being so soft 

on such crime. If this shooting had 

been committed by foreign terrorists, 

we’d send the marines out after them, 

but foreign terrorists don’t buy their 

weapons from dealers who are members 

of the NRA. 

ANNOUNCMENT BY THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair would like to remind all persons 

in the gallery that they are here as 

guests of the House and that any manifestation of approval or disapproval of 

proceedings is in violation of the rules 

of the House. 

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ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER 

PRO TEMPORE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the Chair 

will postpone further proceedings 

today on the motion to suspend the 

rules on which a recorded vote or the 

yeas and nays are ordered, or on which 

the vote incurs objection under clause 

6 of rule XX. 

Any record vote on the postponed 

question will be taken later. 

f 

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S PROPOSED 

2012–2017 OFFSHORE DRILLING 

LEASE SALE PLAN ACT 

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. 

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the 

rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6168) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to 

implement the Proposed Final Outer 

Continental Shelf Oil & Gas Leasing 

Program (2012–2017) in accordance with 

the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

and other applicable law. 

The Clerk read the title of the bill. 

The text of the bill is as follows: 

H.R. 6168 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in 

Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘President 

Obama’s Proposed 2012–2017 Offshore Drilling 

Lease Sale Plan Act’’. 

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

In this Act: 

(1) OCS PLANNING AREA.—Any reference to 

an ‘‘OCS Planning Area’’ means such Outer 

Continental Shelf Planning Area as specified 

by the Department of the Interior as of January 1, 2012. 

(2) PROPOSED OIL AND GAS LEASING PROGRAM

(2012–2017).—The term ‘‘Proposed Final Outer 

Continental Shelf Oil & Gas Leasing Program (2012–2017)’’ means such plan as transmitted to the Speaker of the House and 

President of the Senate on June 28, 2012. 

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO IMPLEMENT PROPOSED OIL AND GAS LEASING PROGRAM (2012–2017). 

The Secretary of the Interior shall implement the Proposed Final Outer Continental 

Shelf Oil & Gas Leasing Program (2012–2017) 

in accordance with the Outer Continental 

Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.), other 

applicable law, and the schedule established 

by such proposed program for conducting oil 

and gas lease sales in OCS Planning Areas in 

specified years as set forth in the following 

table: 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with HOUSE